Of Wontons and Wookies
by Kate McCaye
Summary: Just something that occurred to me while watching the original Star Wars trilogy. NOT a crossover. Mostly teamfic, sort of Samcentered, SJ UST for good measure.


Title: Of Wontons and Wookies

Author: Kate McCaye

Rating: K+

Setting: Season 8

Spoilers: General 8 spoilers, nothing huge.

Pairing: S/J UST

Summary: Just something that occurred to me while watching the original Star Wars trilogy. NOT a crossover. Mostly teamfic, sort of Sam-centered, S/J UST for good measure.

A/N: This one was written when the Star Wars DVDs came out. I wasn't sure if it was finished or not, and it has some vague similarities to another, better fic of mine called "In Dreams Awake." Anyway, upon looking at it again I've decided it ends okay, so here it is. Oh yeah, the liquor store joke is not from my own wacky mind - it's actually the name of the liquor store the mini-Jack tries to buy beer from in "Fragile Balance." I'm just exploiting it here because I haven't seen it mentioned in a fic before and I always thought it was funny.

Of Wontons and Wookies

Recently promoted Lt. Col. Sam Carter was in her lab, trying to catch up on the backlog of reports from Area 51 waiting for her input and approval. She understood now why her CO complained about paperwork so much when he was in charge of SG-1. She hadn't realized just how much more time the promotion was going to take away from her duties to R&D.

She was _almost _thankful for all the time they'd spent on lockdown a couple months ago. True, it had been very creepy confined to one area of the base indefinitely, knowing any of your neighbors (or you yourself) could be harboring the non-corporeal form of Anubis. But on the plus side, she had had plenty of time to catch up on her paperwork.

Now, it was starting to pile up again. Not too badly, really. Actually, most people would probably be perfectly happy with the state of her In-tray. But most people were not her. She was tapping away at her keyboard busily when the rest of her team came into her lab.

Daniel and Teal'c were wearing very different faces that both meant the same thing - they were about to try dragging her out of her lab. They had never really mastered the art like General O'Neill had. Actually, she had to admire their persistence, as they had never succeeded in getting her out of there without his help. O'Neill himself was now much too busy to come tell her to stop working. He'd only done it two times in the past few months, as a matter of fact.

She never would have admitted it to anybody, under any circumstances, but she kind of missed him popping into her lab randomly to make fun of her for not having a life and fiddling with whatever she was working on until she agreed to a break just to get him away from delicate alien technology.

"Hi, Sam, how's it going?" Daniel asked with a closed-mouth smile, blinking at her in that 'I have no ulterior motives whatsoever' way of his.

"Pretty good. I'm working my way through some stuff from Area 51. What are you guys up to?"

"I am attempting to organize a team movie night," Teal'c said.

Sam forced a smile. If Teal'c was organizing it, they'd be watching sci-fi. Probably Star Wars. Although it had been over a year since their last Star Wars marathon (Teal'c had been concerned Daniel didn't remember the films when he came back from being ascended), Sam did have work to do.

Still, these two men were her friends and teammates. They were like brothers to her. And it _had _been a while since they'd all done something together outside of the base, since Teal'c's housewarming party had been abruptly cancelled due to… well, fiasco. "That sounds great, guys, really. But you should go on without me tonight. Soon, though. My house. We'll order Chinese."

"Sam, come on. It's Friday night. You're not going to stay holed up here all weekend, are you?" Daniel asked.

"Oh like you're one to talk. Just last week I found you asleep under your desk when I got here on Sunday morning," Sam reminded him. "Remember? You were hugging that fertility sculpture from P5W483 like it was a teddy bear…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and glanced at Daniel with amusement in his eyes. Sam smiled innocently as Daniel shot her a mildly-exasperated look… clearly Teal'c didn't know about that yet.

"I'm not going to stay holed up here all weekend. I… I'm going to Denver tomorrow actually."

It was only a partial lie. She hadn't given Pete a definite 'yes' or 'no' yet, but it was the first excuse she could think of, and she was still more than a little defensive when it came to accusations that she was a workaholic… despite the fact that the accusers themselves were just as guilty as she.

"In that case, we will not keep you any longer, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said tipping his head.

"Wha…" Daniel started.

"Come Daniel Jackson. O'Neill will be disappointed we will not be having an 'old-fashioned SG-1 movie night,' but perhaps we will be allowed back into O'Malleys. It has been many years since your unfortunate incident there, and I believe they are under new management…"

"General O'Neill is coming too?" Sam interrupted quickly before she could stop herself. Smiling awkwardly as she hoped the quick reaction had been unnoticed, she added, "I mean, I'm surprised he has the night off."

"Well, the only teams off-world right now are long-term research projects… Colonel Reynolds is in charge tonight, I think."

"Skeleton crew," Sam agreed, nodding. "Well… I mean if you guys already have the whole thing planned…"

"We do," Daniel said quickly, obviously picking up on her uncertainty. "But…"

"We hoped you would not be opposed to extending us an invitation to your house, Colonel Carter. As you know, your entertainment system is much more impressive than Daniel Jackson's or O'Neill's."

"Hey, I heard that!" General Jack O'Neill called as he joined them in the lab. "You know, I'd have a sweet setup like Carter's too if I could figure out how to work the damn thing."

"But… what's the point when we can just come over to your place, right Sam?" Daniel asked hopefully.

Sam smiled at all three of them, her gaze lingering suspiciously on Teal'c. He had his smug-face on. You had to know him really, _really _well to recognize it… but it was unquestionably there. He had orchestrated this whole damn thing… manipulating Daniel to help manipulate her to… agree completely. "All right," she said with a sigh, glancing at her watch. "Come over at seven."

"Great," O'Neill said, clapping his hands together once and surveying all of them. "I'll bring the beer."

"I will bring the movies," Teal'c said.

"I'll… bring Teal'c," Daniel added.

They all waited for Sam to shut down her various machines for the night, and headed to the elevator. As they crowded inside, Teal'c asked casually, "What of your weekend plans, Colonel Carter? We do not wish to intrude."

"Yes, we do!" Daniel insisted, smacking Teal'c lightly in the arm. Teal'c gave him a warning look after looking down at the spot on his bicep where Daniel had struck him, as though he had been stung by a mosquito. "Sorry," Daniel apologized.

"Plans, Carter?" O'Neill asked as they got off the elevator at the surface level and headed to the parking garage.

"No, sir," she said quickly. "No plans. See you all around seven." She headed to her car, refusing to give in to the urge to hang back and see what the other three were saying.

Teal'c was a crafty bastard. So damn subtle. She got into her car and pulled out of the parking lot quickly, fumbling for her cell phone. She pressed Speed Dial 9 and waited impatiently at a red light as it rang. She heard the voice mail click on at the other end and the recorded message, "Hey, it's Pete, leave one."

"Pete, hi, it's me, Sam. I know we didn't have definite plans either way this weekend but it looks like I won't be able to drive down to Denver tonight or tomorrow morning. Maybe later in the weekend, I'm not really sure yet. Sorry… I'll talk to you later. Tomorrow. Um, bye."

She snapped her phone shut and slid it back into her pocket, feeling only slightly guilty. She hadn't lied exactly… but she had implied the reason she couldn't go to Denver for the weekend was work-related. She had a feeling he might not be very happy with knowing she'd rather stay up all night watching movies she'd seen already with her team, and would probably be way too tired to get up early in the morning and drive.

Besides, she could see Pete any weekend she wanted… how often lately had SG-1 (O'Neill was still an honorary member) been able to get together at the same time? Pointedly not thinking about whether or not she still would have agreed to the team night if O'Neill wasn't joining them, she pulled into her driveway and practically leapt out of her car.

Her house was never in danger of being photographed by Martha Stewart or any of her minions. She was barely ever home, for starters. And while she was a somewhat-reformed messy person… the house was still pretty cluttered. She knew none of the guys would mind, but there were a few things (baskets of dirty and clean laundry most specifically) that she wanted to get out of the way.

She did a quick clean up, which was mostly gathering things up and shoving them into her closet, then changed into something comfortable, jeans and a loose navy sweater. Not bothering with shoes, she went into the kitchen wondering what Teal'c would be wearing tonight, and opened the drawer of takeout menus.

She shuffled through it, quickly locating the Chinese menu they always ordered from when they were together - majority vote always won, and while she preferred the Chinese place closest to the base, and Teal'c liked the one around the corner, Jack and Daniel both liked this one. She dialled the familiar number, thinking that it had been a long time since they had all been at her house for dinner at the same time, but she still remembered what to order. It wasn't that hard, as it was nearly one of everything. In fact, it was much easier to remember the few dishes no one liked rather than the other way around.

She had just finished assuring the person on the other end of the phone that she was not placing the massive order as a prank when her doorbell rang. She finished up with the restaurant and hurried to the door. She opened it, smiling at her CO, who was by himself and in his usual off-base attire, cargo pants and a green plaid shirt. It had taken years for Sam to realize that Jack had three or four green plaid shirts only minutely different from each other. "Hi, sir. No Daniel and Teal'c?"

"I guess I beat them here," he said, holding up two grocery sacks that obviously contained beer.

"Come on in. I just ordered the Chinese food, it should be here soon."

"Sweet." He followed her into the kitchen and placed the beer in the fridge, already removing two bottles. "It's already cold," he said as he opened both bottles and passed her one.

"Thanks, sir."

"Wanna guess where I got the beer?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"No, sir, I don't," she said with a long-suffering sigh. It was an ongoing joke that the closest liquor store to the mountain had a rather… suggestive name when spoken out loud.

"Aw, come on. All right, I'll tell you…"

The doorbell rang again. "Saved by the bell," Sam muttered as she went to the door.

Daniel and Teal'c were there. She scanned Teal'c's ensemble quickly and discreetly - a well-practiced move she had perfected over the years. Tonight he was dressed for the occasion in a grey tee-shirt at least one size too small for him (although it was probably XXL at least) with a picture of Yoda on it, and a pair of lime green pants - Sam couldn't imagine where he had acquired those. He was holding a shiny silver DVD package - probably the recently released Star Wars trilogy, although she supposed there was always a slim chance he had picked something else.

Daniel had a grocery bag as well. "Hey, Sam. We brought ice cream."

"Oh, great!" she said, taking the bag from him. "Come on in, guys. The General's already here and the food is on its way."

"Just like old times," Daniel said as they entered and she shut the door behind them. They headed into the kitchen just ahead of her.

"Hey, kids. Teal'c, guess where I got the beer?" O'Neill asked.

"If memory serves, O'Neill, you frequent Neelan Liquor," Teal'c stated.

"Got it in one. Good guess, T."

"O'Neill, I do not see why you persist in asking that question," Teal'c said as Sam hid her blush and snort of laughter as she stuck the ice cream in the freezer.

Daniel was trying not to act like the adolescent joke was funny, but the way Teal'c had phrased it this time made it even funnier than usual. Sam handed him a beer, warning, "If you make yourself sick again you're sleeping in the bath tub."

"_One _time I threw up in the living room. _Once. _And it was years ago," he said defensively.

"Ah, I've missed you guys," O'Neill said fondly before draining half his beer in one gulp. "So, T. What did you bring?"

"I have brought the original Star Wars trilogy, O'Neill. It was recently released on DVD, with enhanced visual effects and special features. It will be a new viewing experience."

"Yeah right," Daniel muttered so that only Sam could hear.

"T, Star Wars again? Come on, buddy, we just watched that."

"That was over a year ago, O'Neill."

"Still… all right, fine. But Danny, so help me if you start singing that damn Yoda song again…"

Looking indignant, Daniel demanded, "What _is _this, pick on Daniel night?"

"Yeah… didn't you get the memo?" Sam asked, patting him on the arm.

Gen. O'Neill chuckled. "Good one, Carter."

Teal'c took his movies into the den and started getting everything set up. After the food arrived, they followed their old routine, which was basically opening up all the little cartons at once, setting them all on the coffee table, and finding a spot around the table where you could reach everything you wanted with your chopsticks. They had stopped bothering with plates within a year of these 'team nights,' which O'Neill had originally insisted were to help Teal'c feel more comfortable on Earth, but had quickly just become a way to unwind together.

They worked their way steadily through the various dishes as they watched the first part of the trilogy. Several small chopstick skirmishes quickly escalated into a light saber-inspired duel between Teal'c and O'Neill over the last fried wonton - complete with scarily accurate sound effects from both.

While they were fighting over the wonton, clacking chopsticks and fingers loudly, Daniel speared the wonton with one of his own chopsticks, tore it in half, and quickly ate half of it while pressing the other half into Sam's hand.

She was so amused by the entire situation, and surprised at Daniel's daring move, that she was still holding it when her CO and Teal'c noticed that she had possession of the object they were supposed to be fighting over. And that it was half-gone. "Daniel…" she started to explain, pointing at him with her chopstick.

Daniel was still chewing, having taken a much too-large bite when he put the entire thing in his mouth, but he was shaking his head vehemently to deny Sam's accusation. "Get 'em, T!" O'Neill declared suddenly, lunging for the remaining half-wonton. Sam and Daniel quickly found themselves squashed by Teal'c and O'Neill.

Sam didn't know what to do. She was struggling to keep the wonton from her CO out of sheer habit, although she really didn't want it all that much. But she also didn't appreciate the way he was trying to get it from her by poking her in the ribs with his greasy chopstick and trying to pin her to the couch.

"Sam! Help! Teal'c's been watching way too much wrestling!" Daniel called, his voice muffled although he was right next to her on the couch with Teal'c on top of him.

"Kind of got my own problems at the moment, Daniel!" Sam called, counterattacking with a sharp prod to her CO's shoulder with her own chopstick. "Sir, so help me, if you make me get this wonton all over my couch…"

"Threatening your Commanding Officer, Carter? I am shocked and appalled."

"Okay, okay, I'll give it to you," she finally relented.

"Colonel Carter, you will do no such thing. That wonton is mine," Teal'c declared.

Suddenly the two-on-two wrestling was every man for himself. They were all laughing, although Sam could only assume Teal'c was laughing on the inside. The wonton ended up being knocked out of Sam's hand in the scuffle.

Everyone froze where they were and watched as it rolled under the chair nearest the couch. "Great, nice job Spacemonkey," O'Neill said, shoving Daniel off of him.

They all disentangled themselves, and started picking up chopsticks, although in the scuffle they had all become mixed up. Sam felt around under the chair for the missing wonton, hoping she found it before she found something else instead. "God, Jack," she heard Daniel say, followed by her CO saying, "Easy, Danny" and a loud smacking sound.

Sam got back to her feet with the wonton in hand and turned to them. "What?"

"Nothing," they chorused.

She looked at them suspiciously but decided she'd rather go throw out the gross and now dusty wonton and wash her hands than try to figure out what they'd been on about this time. She quickly disposed of the wonton in the kitchen and washed her hands, grabbing more drinks for everyone before going back into the den.

The brief, playful scuffle was over and everyone was eating quietly again as though nothing had happened. Sam climbed over Daniel's outstretched legs and took up her seat again, settling back in to watch the movie in between Daniel and her CO, who handed her a pair of chopsticks and passed her the kung pao without even taking his eyes off the television.

"Thanks, sir."

Five minutes later, Daniel asked, "So… who wants the last egg-roll?"

vvvvvvvvvv

As the first movie reached its big climax, Sam smiled as she remembered her own rather Star-Wars-like run at Anubis's weapon, in the 302. The General nudged her shoulder and said, "What, like that's so hard?" as everyone onscreen cheered Luke for destroying the Death Star.

"O'Neill," Teal'c said firmly.

"What? Sorry. I just don't see how you're still entertained by this stuff when this is what we _do. _I mean, come on, been there, done that."

"Talk about bad clichés, Jack," Daniel groaned. He earned himself a throw pillow in the face for that remark.

As "A New Hope" ended, Sam got up to start clearing away the remaining food. With Chinese food there was always leftovers, but they didn't need it sitting open on the table like that. Daniel helped her clear everything away.

Glancing back towards the den to make sure her CO was still in the bathroom, Sam asked, "What was that crap earlier?"

"Huh?"

"When you said, 'God, Jack' and he hit you," Sam prompted.

Daniel grinned and finished his second beer. He was already getting tipsy, Sam could tell, because he happily answered her question. "You know when you were trying to get the wonton from under the chair?"

"Yeah…"

"You were kind of… well, I can't really blame him because it was kind of right _there, _but… he was staring at your ass pretty… obviously."

"Oh brother," Sam muttered, feeling her cheeks turn pink.

"It was kind of funny, actually… especially his face when he realized Teal'c and I could totally see what he was doing."

"Sorry I asked," she mumbled, going back into the den without checking to see if Daniel was following.

He did come back shortly, and promptly laughed at her when he saw how completely ensconced in a corner of the couch she had made herself. She was still blushing as well, and hoped Daniel was too drunk to figure out that she was more embarrassed about being flattered by the wildly inappropriate suggestion than anything else.

O'Neill came back from the bathroom via the kitchen, stopping to fill his pockets with spoons and grab all four pints of ice cream Daniel had brought. He passed them around to their respective recipients as Teal'c started the second movie. Everyone watched quietly while making their way through their own pints, occasionally leaning over to snag samples of each other's.

Sam was wedged between the edge of the couch and her CO, who was taking up more space than usual with his feet propped up on her coffee table. Daniel was next to him, and as he was a little bit drunk he was even less aware of other people's personal space than usual, which explained why General O'Neill was crowding her so much.

Teal'c got tired of sharing his ice cream and removed himself to the overstuffed chair that had formerly attacked their wonton. Daniel started poking Jack's shoulder repeatedly. "No. You can't have any more of my ice cream. Ask Carter."

"That wasn't what I was going to say."

"Oh. Then what?"

"Remember when I saved the Prometheus from being traded, and told those aliens my name was Hans Olo."

"Yeah…" Jack said dryly, looking at Daniel to continue. Apparently he had just wanted to bring it up. They looked at each other for a few seconds, giving Sam and Teal'c plenty of time to exchange amused looks as well, then Jack said. "Daniel, that like… just happened not too long ago."

"I know."

"So… what's your point?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Teal'c is going to hurt you both if you keep talking," Sam contributed. They both looked at her - Daniel was fairly drunk, that much was obvious from the look on his face.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, looking at them steadily.

"Easy there Chewy," Jack muttered. He turned to Daniel and said, "That wasn't even that funny to begin with, Daniel, and if anything, you should have said you were Luke Skywalker. Trust me, that officer at Cheyenne in 1969 thought it was hilarious."

"I'll bet," Daniel snorted. "And anyway, Han Solo is way cooler."

"Exactly. That's why you should have said you were Luke. Everybody knows _I'm _Han Solo."

Daniel snorted again and swallowed some ice cream down the wrong pipe. He began coughing and choking. Sam quickly leaned around her CO and started patting Daniel on the back. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Daniel gasped, his eyes watering. "I just got an ice cream headache in my nose."

"Okay, that makes no sense. It's official. You switch to ginger ale now."

"Jaaaack!"

"Yeah, like Han Solo would ever whine like that. Now, Luke on the other hand…"

"This is my final request for silence," Teal'c informed them all. The three people on the couch turned to look at him, Sam suppressing her laughter, Daniel looking rebuked, and Jack looking defiantly obedient - a look he had mastered over the years. It was hard to pull off.

After they all turned their attention back to "The Empire Strikes Back," Sam said quietly to her CO, "Actually, with Daniel's linguistic skills, wouldn't he be C3PO, sir?"

Jack let a chuckle escape before Teal'c shot him a look with the eyebrow at half-mast. They had all just turned their attention back to the movie when Sam's phone started to ring. Teal'c, who was closest to it, answered. "Greetings. You have reached Colonel Samantha Carter's residence."

Sam started laughing as she got to her feet to get the phone. Jack's legs were blocking her path, since his feet were propped up on the coffee table. She tried to nudge him out of the way as Teal'c continued talking into the phone. "…No, this is not an answering machine… state your identity and purpose… I am sorry, Pete Shanahan. Colonel Carter is currently unavailable…"

Hearing that it was Pete, Jack lowered his legs reluctantly so she could get past him. At the same time, Daniel dramatically plopped his feet up on the table instead, creating a new barrier. For good measure, he crossed his arms and looked up at her with a juvenile scowl. She sighed and stepped over his legs, crossing the room to take the phone from Teal'c. "Thanks, Teal'c. Sorry about the interruption."

"I shall pause the movie for you, Colonel Carter," he said as he handed her the phone.

She started to say he didn't need to do that, but he was already going back to his chair, so she just took the phone into the kitchen quickly. "Hello?"

"Sam?"

"Yeah… hi, Pete. Didn't you get my message?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm calling."

"Oh… I thought I said I'd call you tomorrow."

"Yeah, but… I wanted to see what's going on… you're not coming at all this weekend?"

"I don't know, I can't tonight… and the earliest I'd be able to get out there tomorrow would probably be around dinner time, and I'd have to leave Sunday morning, so it's a long way to drive for such a short time…"

"I thought you had to work, it sounds like you're having a party."

"No, it's not a party, we're just having a team night…"

From the living room, Daniel loudly called, "Hey, you're holding everything up, Your Worship!" followed by an even louder, "Shut up, Spacemonkey, she's on the phone!"

Trying to ignore the voices and the ensuing scuffle she could hear, Sam sighed and said into the phone, "Sorry. Like I said, it's just a team movie night. We used to do it all the time but we haven't been able to lately with all our different schedules, so… look, I should go. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Pete said, sounding reluctant to get off the phone.

Sam, who had never been one for long phone conversations but was especially eager to get back to the living room after hearing a crash and all three men starting to blame each other for whatever had just been broken, quickly said, "I have to go. Bye, Pete."

"Okay… bye, Sam. Love you."

"Me… too." She hung up the phone, trying not to dwell on the annoying way he always ended a conversation like that. It just sounded too automatic to be sincere or special.

She went back into the den but was glad to see that the damage wasn't as bad as it sounded from the kitchen. Daniel and Teal'c were picking up a bunch of empty beer bottles that had been knocked over. The coffee table was askew, and General Jack O'Neill was on the floor in front of the couch with his ass in the air. "Are you… hurt, sir?" Sam asked carefully, remembering what Daniel had said about Jack looking at _her _ass and blushing quickly as she realized she was doing the same thing.

"No." He sat back on his heels and she could see that he was scrubbing at a stain on the carpet with one of her best wash cloths and an excessive amount of carpet cleaner. "Danny made me spill my ice cream. Sorry."

"It wasn't my fault! You punched me really hard!"

"In the arm… and excuse me for thinking you'd toughened up a bit with that muscle mass you've been adding recently. I didn't realize it was just for show."

Since Daniel, in his inebriated state, looked like he was about to launch one of the bottles in his hands right at Jack's head, Sam quickly said, "Daniel, Teal'c, could you go put all those bottles in the recycle bin? It's in the garage."

They obeyed immediately. "I really am sorry about this mess, Carter. I'm not sure if this stain will come all the way out or not," O'Neill apologized again.

"I have some better stuff than that, it's under the sink in the kitchen." Sam quickly fetched the stain remover she preferred and joined her CO on the floor. He tugged the bottle out of her hand before she could even get it open. "I can do that, sir, you don't have to…"

"Hey, make a mess, clean it up… yadda yadda yadda."

"Still… your knees…"

"It's fine, Carter." He sprayed the chocolate stain again and started scrubbing with renewed vigor, glancing up at her briefly before asking, "How's Pete?"

"He's fine," she said quickly, getting to her feet with the cleaner he had started with. "I'll go get another cloth, and put this away."

Daniel and Teal'c came back in, both carrying glasses of ginger ale. A few more minutes and Jack had conquered the ice cream stain, and everyone settled back to watch the movie. Sam glanced at the clock, realizing that if they kept having so many interruptions they would never finish.

vvvvvvvvvv

As they neared the end of "The Empire Strikes Back," Sam was suddenly overwhelmed. She had seen these movies dozens of times over the course of her life, but this was the first time she'd watched them in over a year. The first time since their latest Antarctica disaster. The one that she was now being harshly reminded of as she watched Han Solo being put into carbonite freezing.

After all the joking about the characters they were similar to… which had been an old joke between them all since shortly after Cassie had arrived and first seen the movies… Sam suddenly found tears springing to her eyes as she watched Han Solo being frozen. It just looked too much like seeing her CO put into the ancient stasis pod. Although she doubted anybody else would make the connection to their most recent O'Neill-narrowly-escaping-death scenario, she really didn't want any of them to see that she was a second away from crying over "The Empire Strikes Back," of all things.

Getting to her feet quickly, she said, "I'm going to go take out the rubbish before the Chinese food smell takes over the house." She walked as she spoke so none of the guys could look her in the eye or offer to take out the rubbish.

In the kitchen, she hastily grabbed the half-full Glad bag and took it out to the garage. She took her time on the way back inside, and sat down on the back porch steps to get herself collected before going back inside. Unfortunately, it seemed like the more she tried to get in control of her thoughts and redirect them somewhere else, the more stubbornly they dwelt on the events of a few months ago.

Shortly before Sam had escaped from the living room, Leia had been telling Han, as he was frozen, that she loved him. Of course, he said "I know," then 3PO carried on about Chewbacca turning around so he could see while Han Solo was put into stasis. While Sam had always thought the romantic dialogue Lucas came up with was definitely not his strong suit, she couldn't help but relate the (admittedly overdone) scene to their own situation a few months ago.

On the way to Antarctica, she'd tried (for the second time, as a matter of fact) to talk to her CO, but he'd cut her off with his own "I know" before she even got to say anything, much less… well, _anything. _

She had called him Jack, which, for them, was pretty much as big a deal as screaming "I love you" at the top of her lungs… not that he remembered it at all. But Sam was certain that Daniel and Teal'c remembered it just as clearly as she did. Teal'c had literally dragged her back to the ship, and both of them had spent the whole trip home keeping her sandwiched between them, trying not to let her notice how often they were looking at her to make sure she was okay. She wasn't okay… none of them were. But to anybody else, they had appeared fine. Tricking everybody else was easy… tricking the three men currently in her living room was going to be much harder.

Sure enough, she heard the back door open when she took more than a few minutes to return. It could just as easily have been any of them, but she recognized the footsteps as her CO's a second before he sat down on the stoop next to her.

"It's freezing out here, you know," he commented.

It wasn't the best thing to say when she was thinking about Antarctica. She wiped her eyes quickly with the back of her hand and said the first thing that came into her mind. "You drew the short straw?"

"Nope. Teal'c did. He's got to keep Daniel from eavesdropping."

"Tough job," Sam offered after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah," he agreed. "So… you going to come back in anytime soon or do you want us to go?"

"No, of course you don't have to go, I just… I just needed a few minutes."

"Good, because I'd hate to see what Teal'c would do if we ended his Star Wars marathon early."

"Yeah."

"Do you um… want to talk about… why you're out here?" he asked carefully, sounding like he already knew why and was afraid of the response.

She looked at him in surprise. Of all the people in there, she would have expected him to be the last one who would guess why she suddenly couldn't handle the last fifteen minutes of "The Empire Strikes Back." Not that he didn't know her as well as the other two or anything, but he hadn't exactly been himself at the time he'd been frozen.

"That's okay, sir. I don't really want to talk about it."

"You sure? I only make this kind of offer about once a decade, think it over carefully."

"Once every five years," she corrected without thinking.

"Huh?"

"You offered five years ago, sir. Remember, when my 'twin' was here?"

"Oh yeah."

They were quiet for several long moments. Sam was already starting to feel comforted, even though they hadn't really said much. It was something they luckily had a knack for.

"I remember," he offered finally.

"Sir?"

"Everything. I remember everything. At least, I think. It came back gradually, but… it's there. So if you do… want to talk about… well… I'll get it. I get it. I guess… what I'm trying to say is…"

"I know," Sam interrupted with a small smile, turning to look at him for the first time. "You don't have to say anything."

He gave her the look he always did when she surprised him, then turned his attention back to his hands. "Your twin said that to me five years ago too, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He slipped his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder lightly. She leaned into him just a little bit, realizing how cold she was only when she was close enough to feel how warm he was by contrast.

They sat in one of the most comfortable silences they had ever sat in, despite the fact that both their asses were freezing to the cold concrete steps.

"Frozen enough yet?" Jack finally asked, just as Sam was getting ready to go back inside.

She nodded and got to her feet, giving him a hand up as well, smiling and finally looking him fully in the face as she hauled him to his feet. They were okay.

"Good, cuz I don't think Teal'c is waiting for us and I'd hate to miss 'Return of the Jedi.' It's my favorite."

"Gold bikini?" Sam guessed.

He shrugged with an unapologetic smile. Shaking her head and laughing, she said, "Actually, it's my favorite too."

He looked surprised for a moment, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he studied her. "Ewoks?" he finally guessed.

She mimicked his earlier shrug and said, "They're just so adorable."

Opening the door, he waved her inside with a dramatic sweeping gesture and said, "After you, your worship."


End file.
